The use of a physical input device to manipulate a selector within a UI of a computing device is familiar. Examples include a UI having a cursor or pointer that can be manipulated using a mouse, joystick, track ball, touch pad, etc. Other examples are discussed in this disclosure. As the capability of computing devices increases, UIs for such devices contain a greater density of information in the form of icons and other screen elements that can be selected by a user. As the density of screen elements increases, a user must exert more care in using the physical input device to select desired elements and the chance of a user inadvertently selecting an undesired element increases. This problem is exacerbated with small displays, such as those of portable devices and the like.
Large and/or multiple displays are becoming more common with desktop computing devices. However, large displays do not completely solve the difficulties associated with selecting a desired screen element from among densely arranged screen elements. For one, users and designers generally find a way of filling all available space with screen elements, so that, even as the area of displays increase, so do the number of screen elements such that the density of screen elements typically remains great. Additionally, navigating a selector within a large and/or multiple screens can be difficult because the selector must traverse large areas. Thus, it might require more and/or larger manipulations of the physical input device to move the selector from one side of a screen to the other. A response factor of the selector to movement of the physical input device can be adjusted such that the selector moves a greater distance per a given movement of the physical input device. However, this makes it more difficult to execute fine-control operations with the selector, such as selecting a desired screen element from among densely grouped elements. Thus, there is a need in the art for methods of navigating within a densely packed and/or large area UI using a selector controlled by a physical input device.